Soccer-Hapoel Ramat Gan beat Kiryat Shmona to win Israeli Cup

JERUSALEM, May 9 (Reuters) - Hapoel Ramat Gan won the Israeli State Cup on Wednesday by beating Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 4-2 on penalties after they ended extra time locked at 1-1.

Ramat Gan’s second Cup victory was a consolation prize for the least successful club in the Premier League during the season. They were relegated last month and finished bottom of the division.

Kiryat Shmona, who relinquished the league title they won last season to Maccabi Tel Aviv, went ahead in the 17th minute through Shimon Abuhatzeira but Omer Boxenbaum equalised for Ramat Gan in the 52nd minute.

Ramat Gan’s previous Cup win in 2003 set a milestone when they became the only second division side to win the trophy since the founding of Israel in 1948.

As neither club have a big following, the match was moved from its traditional venue, the 40,000-seat National Stadium in Tel Aviv to a new but far smaller stadium in Netanya. Only 8,300 spectators attended, one of the lowest ever for a final. (Reporting by Ori Lewis; Editing by Ian Ransom)